Chapter Three: The New Agenda
After Da'an's sudden and dramatic departure, things were finally quieting on the Mothership. The priests had arrived shortly after Renee and Liam's return, and they had already sunk their hooks in humanity. Their most basic promise was to do away with all the problems the Taelons had wrought on for humanity to suffer. However, Zo'or suspected an ulterior motive.
The Church of the Companions was on its highest horse when the priests came. They preached to the masses calling the priests the divine messengers that God had promised them. They truly thought that the hour of enlightenment was upon humanity. Their message was slowly and steadily affecting the masses as well, especially third world countries. However, as many as their were who followed the priests, there were many more who protested. Most of the world was growing suspicious of Taelon motives, especially the United States and Europe. While no one was ready to acknowledge the cries for revolution emanating from the Resistance, several Gallup Polls had already confirmed that a majority of the people believed that the Taelons were gaining too much power for humanity's tastes. Humanity was now approaching its crossroads, and both the Taelons and the resistance knew that it would take something drastic to move them in either direction. The question was for whose side would that drastic act favor.
The priests were the ones who had ordered T'than to take Da'an's position. T'than did not grovel to the wishes of the priests as much as they would have liked him to, but both parties had the mutual interest of ridding themselves of Zo'or. T'than, therefore, acted like he was in full support of their new policies.
Zo'or was well aware of the many forces standing against him. In order to proceed with his own agenda, he would have to move more carefully and watch his back all the more closely.
"I do not like this plan," Zo'or told Ku'ni, the South American Companion, after the Synod meeting was adjourned. "It is too loose. The humans are bound to tie us to this."
"But that is the intention of the priests," Ku'ni said. "They want Da'an found, and this is the best way to draw him out."
"I will not argue with their decision to eliminate Reyes. He was a loose cannon. He knew too much. However, killing him in this manner only allows the local authorities to trace his death to us."
"Local authorities will determine that a rogue volunteer with a grudge killed Reyes in cold blood by modifying his weapon."
"That does not free us from all blame."
"It would if the weapon was ours. We can easily say that the weapons we issue our volunteers are not meant for deadly combat unless they are not utilized properly."
"You are a fool if you believe this will not backfire. I am no fool, Ku'ni. I tried this scam before as a campaign against humans modifying Taelon weapons on the black market. I nearly paid for it with my life."
"We are not campaigning against the inevitable. We are merely using this to take back what was lost. We must trust that the priests know what they do. They always have, or they would not be here."
Zo'or turned his back on Ku'ni and faced the dark abyss outside the Mothership. "That is something I cannot do."
Liam took Da'an to a small café in Chinatown, and he made sure to get a table far away from the public's eye.
Da'an watched Liam curiously try to hold a piece of sweet and sour chicken with chopsticks. Then, she nearly spit out her tea laughing at his attempt to eat it.
"You think it's funny? Why don't you try it?" Liam teased.
"Fine," Da'an said reaching for the chopsticks.
Liam gave them to her only to find disappointment in her perfect grip on the meat upon her first try.
"Open wide," she said in a motherly voice.
"Bitch," Liam said, but he did let her bask in her triumph by opening his mouth to receive the meat. "I'm sticking with the fork."
"So what other news have you to report?" Da'an asked Liam.
"Are you still mad about the ID thing? I already told you that it's temporary. We'll get you a new picture and a new name if you want a little later, but it was an emergency."
"It is fine," Da'an said, "and when I say that, I am referring to the name, not the picture. However, I refuse to dwell on that subject any longer. What do you know about Agent Reyes?"
"He worked for the CIA before he decided to join the companions as a protector. He was Ku'ni's protector."
"And he lives here?"
"No. His family lives here. Apparently something went down in Lima with a member of his squad and Ku'ni gave him some vacation time to try and cool matters down. But I can't say for certain what happened. I was with you when the incident allegedly occurred."
"Whoever did this to him must have really hated him, then, to travel all the way to New York City and kill him with a modified weapon."
"You really think this was an isolated incident?"
"Not in the least," Da'an said. "Zo'or attempted something similar when he transferred his consciousness in a human body and attempted to kill me with specially modified weapons."
"You think this is a conspiracy to get modified weapons off the market because Zo'or's first attempt didn't work?"
"No, I frankly believe the two incidents have nothing to do with each other despite their similarities. Zo'or clearly had the ulterior motive of tapping into humanity's more aggressive fighting instincts. He wanted to understand the primal urge to kill."
"Then, who would kill this guy and why?"
"Perhaps Mr. Reyes knew something he was not supposed to know. I am certain that word travels fast in the companion protector rumor mill. If you want to locate Reyes's killer, start with the people who have access to this type of weapon."
"Volunteers and protectors. You think I should get the word on Reyes through other protectors. I should warn you that I'm not well thought of in the protector world. They think I don't deserve the position since you just gave it to me without any real formal training."
"Well neither did Malley, and they like him."
"They also think that I'm…too hotheaded."
"You are too hotheaded. Liam, I am not asking you to pursue this in any way. If anything, I would prefer to stay as far away from it as I can. However, if your true aim is to bring Reyes's killer to justice, you will just have to get off your high horse and make new friends. Surely there is some protector willing to give you detailed information about Reyes that cares not about your blatantly vocal personality."
"Gee, that just hurt my feelings. All right. I'll talk to Malley. I haven't had any trouble with him so far, even though he is T'than's protector."
"I do not know why in the world he specifically asked to protect T'than. The two are complete polar opposites personality-wise."
"It kinda works out, though. He's become a sort of mediator between me and T'than."
"Liam, I do not want you undermining T'than's authority. If I know T'than, he has most likely sided with the priests seeing as they both have a common enemy in Zo'or. T'than is too close to the priests and too dangerous a person to be taunting with your protests. And T'than's temper is far shorter than mine will ever be. He will not tolerate your outspokenness for long."
"All right. For you, I'll try to keep quiet."
"Thank you."
"Still, I know how timid you are about getting involved in this so quickly after your dissent, but I could really use your help."
"I do not know what more I could possibly do to help."
"As the former head of the volunteer program, you have access to all the psychological profiles of the volunteer units. I was thinking that while I'm interviewing Reyes's co-workers, you could get started on accessing the files on Reyes's units. Find out if any of them fit the profile of someone with a short fuse."
"First of all, I am the former head of the volunteer program. Zo'or took over that program over a year ago, giving them more than enough time to erase all access I could have had to those files. Secondly, I am not a Taelon anymore. I am an Espelon. I cannot play spy on the Mothership or the Moonbase without expecting someone to uncover my altered energy signature."
"But you know all the systems. You could hack in and steal the files."
"The psychological profiles were never digitally stored for that very reason. The best I could uncover are some tapes of psychiatric evaluations, and they do not tape all of them."
"Well, surely you know where they keep them."
"They kept them in a special library on the Moonbase that is run by the FBI, but the Moonbase is more heavily guarded than the Mothership. I cannot walk in there without being detected."
"There must be some way to get those files. They're too valuable to our case to just let go, and it's the only way to narrow Reyes's list of enemies."
Da'an thought for a long time. Instinctively, she placed her hands in her pockets and was surprised when she felt the card Rembrandt had given her. "I think I have an idea."
Rembrandt sat in his home office overlooking the files of another case he was pursuing along with the Reyes case. It was nighttime, and police sirens could be heard blaring outside. It was to the point where he could predict them like clockwork. He was actually gratified when he heard his global ring.
"Dautrive, PI speaking."
Da'an's face appeared. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I don't sleep as much as I used to," he said. "It's a bit late for coffee, don't you think?"
"Not if you plan on pulling an all-nighter with me on the Reyes case. How are you coming on a list of suspects?"
"Based on what you told me, I've narrowed it down to Reyes's co-workers. Volunteers, companion protectors, employees in the embassy in Argentina, but I can't do anything about interviews without the South American Companion's permission. Have you ever tried calling an embassy? Apparently bureaucratic runaround ain't limited to the DMV."
"Yes, Ku'ni can be quite evasive when he needs to."
"What?"
"Nothing," Da'an said quickly. "I think I may know a way to obtain a list of suspects, but it will require some…field work, if you understand what I mean."
Rembrandt smirked. "I think I catch yer drift."
"Is your address on this card correct?"
"Last time I checked."
"Good, because it is getting quite cold out here," a familiar voice called from behind the door.
Rembrandt breathed an impressed sigh and unlocked the door. "Where have you been all my life?"
"On another world, in a different time," Da'an replied stepping in.